Methodist Church’s LGBT stance threatens unity | Faith Matters

The United Methodist Church, one of the largest Christian denominations in the world, is heading toward a split over LGBT issues. By a margin of 54 votes, its special general conference in February drew a line in the sand, saying that same-sex clergy in relationships and the blessing of same-sex unions violate their policies. Clergy can be charged and removed without pay and congregations that defy were almost prodded to leave.

It’s a tense situation, especially in generally progressive New Jersey.

Not content with the possibility of a split, Greater New Jersey Bishop John Schol appointed the Rev. Sang Won Doh, pastor of their largest church in New Jersey – Calvary Korean Methodist Church in East Brunswick – to head its Way Forward task force. Its mission is to explore "how to find new expressions of United Methodism in the wake of the global denomination passing legislation with stronger enforcement and restriction on ministry with LGBTQI+ people,” according to Carolyn Conover, the state’s director of communications.

Some 40 clergy and laypeople, including LGBT members, have met three times since February.

“We want to stay together,” said Doh, who described himself as a little right of center with many of his 1,000 first-generation Korean congregants, who are also more conservative. He described frank discussions with people of different backgrounds and ideologies to see if there can be common ground.

His job, he said, is “building a bridge.”

It’s not as easy as Doh presents it. Among the 864 delegates at the February convention, 58 percent, or 504, were from the U.S.; 30 percent, 260, from Africa; and 10 percent, 90, from the Philippines, Asia and Europe, according to Conover. The growing African numbers tend to be more conservative and the Methodist dilemma mirrors somewhat what the Episcopalians went through a decade ago. Some U.S. congregations, opposed to progressive causes, allied themselves with African bishops. So, the denomination did not split, but its membership is splintered.

Conover was not putting any blame on African Methodists. She just returned from a two-week stay in Tanzania with a team of seven.

“We talked to the bishop and delegates to enlighten their delegates and ours,'' she said.

In a report she wrote for the church in the Garden State, she recounted that Schol “emphasized that our connection builds relationships and increases our capacity for mission, but that our relationship and mission was in danger.”

There are simply different mindsets and experiences between the churches in two different continents, she said.

“New Jersey is the most diverse in the country racially, ethnically and theologically,” Conover said.

Here, some 40,000 people worship in 530 Methodist congregations. Six of those are in Jersey City, according to newly ordained elder the Rev. Mark Schol, who just happens to be the bishop’s son. He leads Christ United Methodist Church in Journal Square, at the corner of Tonnelle Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard. It was the church where the Journal’s longtime religion reporter, the late Betty Foley, worshiped. At the time, it was large and mostly made up of Caucasian members. Today, he claims about 90 members, of whom 40 attend Sunday service regularly. They are mainly Filipino, African, Indian and Caribbean and more traditional in their views.

They have not spoken too much about LGBT issues, Schol said, but he plans to do so soon.

World Pride Day will be celebrated in New York City on Sunday, June 30, and it is generating an array of media stories and exhibits. It’s hard to avoid noting the progress that has been made in 50 years since the Stonewall riots in Manhattan.

Drew University in Madison, a Methodist affiliate, may sever its ties.

“The university will not support or enforce church policies that discriminate against anyone,'' the school’s board of trustees said in a statement. "We will continue to educate and train leaders from all backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities for leadership in the church and world.

Mark Schol is hopeful but also realistic.

“I see the plan (opposed to LGBT clergy and members) as punitive but hope that we can stay together as a community for all people,” he said.

Conover also hopes that a solution comes before the Methodists’ general conference next year. Only time will tell if the conversations locally, around the state and with Africans bear fruit. They are praying that Methodist unity will not be interpreted as uniformity.